The board yesterday released a briefing paper that described a sliding-scale system to be used in determining the level of reliance on a country’s oversight system before undergoing its own inspections.

The paper will bring hope to UK audit firms who work with US-listed companies as the UK system is seen as one of the most independent and robust in the world and should, if talks go to plan, mean little intervention from the PCAOB.

The board also announced that in order to finalise all the details of the new system a further 90 days will be added to the deadline for non-US firms to register with the PCAOB. This should mean, if the proposals are accepted, that firms now have until July 2004 to register with the board.